Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was recently handling my tiger retic and it had its mouth wide open and made a wheezing/cough typed noise. I just purchased it from someone who was not taking very good care of it, it was just finishing with a bad shed when i got it and it had a wheeze going on. Its eyes were also dented in and someone told me this was from bad humidity on the previous owners part. It is about six feet long if that makes any difference. Any positive and helpful comments would help me out greatly and i would really appreciate it. Thanks for reading and i hope you can help.

If he just had a bad shed, then it is because of inappropriate humidity levels. If you are seeing him wheezing and coughing with a gaping mouth, then most likely these are stages of an RI.

If you want my recommendation, check your own temps and humidity and get him to a vet ASAP.

Chris

>>I was recently handling my tiger retic and it had its mouth wide open and made a wheezing/cough typed noise. I just purchased it from someone who was not taking very good care of it, it was just finishing with a bad shed when i got it and it had a wheeze going on. Its eyes were also dented in and someone told me this was from bad humidity on the previous owners part. It is about six feet long if that makes any difference. Any positive and helpful comments would help me out greatly and i would really appreciate it. Thanks for reading and i hope you can help.
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U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League

I was handling it for about ten minutes around my neck, it opened its mouth and made a couple hacking coughs. I recently purchased it at a swap and the person who was keeping it took horrible care if it with temp and humidity. Its cage is now in the upper 90's in the basking region and i am misting the cage twice a day. Also i am keeping a water dish big enough for him to soak in that is full of water. Its nothing fancy, just a rubbermaid container. Is there any way i can take care of this problem without going to the vet? If comes down to it, though, i will go to the vet. Thanks for the comment.

I would keep basking temps to around 92-93 high side and mid to low 80's cool side. I would keep humidity to around 60% or higher but no higher than about 85%. I would still recommend getting him to a vet just to be certain. You dont want to take a risk on how far the RI could be getting. If you wait too long then it could cost you the life of your snake.

Best Wishes,

Chris

>>I was handling it for about ten minutes around my neck, it opened its mouth and made a couple hacking coughs. I recently purchased it at a swap and the person who was keeping it took horrible care if it with temp and humidity. Its cage is now in the upper 90's in the basking region and i am misting the cage twice a day. Also i am keeping a water dish big enough for him to soak in that is full of water. Its nothing fancy, just a rubbermaid container. Is there any way i can take care of this problem without going to the vet? If comes down to it, though, i will go to the vet. Thanks for the comment.
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U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League

Les,
With RI in boids, if all you see is clear mucous in the mouth and externally around the nares, high temps and high humidity can many times pull them out of it. However, once they show the coughing symptoms and/or opaque mucous, it is more serious and they should get a vet visit and antibiotics. Good luck.

Kelly

Thanks for the comments, but to tell the truth, there is no mucous. I talked to someone else, to ask what the problem might be and they said that maybe there was a piece of skin from his bad shed stuck in his nose and he might have opened his mouth because he was getting irritated from not being able to breath out of his nose, but i dont know how true that is. The only thing that makes me believe its not advanced RI is the lack of mucous plus he still eats with a very, very quick feed response. Thanks for the comment again Kelly.